LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) -- The appeals are over and the decision from the Indiana Supreme Court is final -- Keith Henderson cannot prosecute the David Camm murder trial.
Henderson said Thursday, "If I had any inkling that agreeing to write a book about what this community, what the victims, what the prosecutorial team did, would I have done that at that time or agreed to do that knowing ultimately in February of 2012 what this would be, clearly not."
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller says his office will, "work with a special prosecutor to seek justice for the victims."
The Indiana Supreme Court refused to repeal an earlier ruling from the Indiana Court of Appeals after it ruled that Henderson's former book deal is "an actual conflict of interest," meaning he should be removed from prosecuting a third murder trial against Camm.
The three-judge panel found back in November that Henderson "permanently compromised his ability" to serve as prosecutor after reaching a tentative contract deal with a publisher to write a book about the case.
Henderson said Thursday, "But I think at the end, I think it's important when the case is concluded that the public knows, again, what we know."
Even though the book deal was later scrapped, the court ruled it amounted to a conflict of interest. The ruling said, in part, "...Henderson cannot be both committed to writing a book about the Camm case and serve as prosecutor. Such a personal interest creates an actual conflict of interest with his duties as prosecutor."
When the Court of Appeals ruling was first made, Henderson said he disagreed with it. When asked directly if he regretted the book deal, Henderson replied: "No, I don't regret the book deal. In retrospect, I think the question is, what is the rule on special prosecutors...I don't necessarily agree with (the ruling) but this case will proceed with a prosecutor who is competent. I'm not the only one who can try this case."
Henderson also said back in November that he believes "justice will be had" even if it's another prosecutor who is left to present evidence against David Camm. "If I thought there was a conflict I never would have intended on publishing a book," Henderson told WDRB News then.
The earlier court decision concluded that Henderson had provided David Camm with a defense strategy he did not have previously. It said Camm could maintain that Henderson's decision to prosecute him for a third time was influenced by his desire to write the book.
The ruling back in November also cited concerns Henderson expressed in an email to his agent Frank Weimann in July 2009. He wanted to make sure the publisher, Berkley Penguin Group, didn't want to bring the book out before Camm's third trial began. "It would jeopardize the case," Henderson wrote, "potentially getting me removed from the case due to certain disclosure and opinions we are writing in the book. This cannot happen."
Henderson and Penguin cancelled their contract in September 2009, and he and his co-author returned their advances for the book.
Camm has been convicted twice of killing his wife and two children in September 2000. Camm's first conviction was overturned by a state appeals court in 2004. He was convicted again in 2006 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Charles Boney was also convicted in the killings.
But the Indiana Supreme Court overturned Camm's second conviction, as well. The court ordered a third trial for David Camm because it said the prosecutor in his second trial improperly argued that Camm had molested his five-year-old daughter Jill. Prosecutor Keith Henderson also argued that was a motive for killing Jill, his son Brad, and his wife Kim.
The Indiana Supreme Court went on to rule it would not reconsider its decision to overturn Camm's 2006 conviction. That left it up to Henderson to decide whether to prosecute Camm a third time, at great expense to Floyd County. Back in 2006, Henderson told WDRB News that Camm's second trial cost the county more than $370,000, and that his first trial cost more than $900,000.
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